Seasonal Dynamics of Floodplain Forest Understory–Impacts of Degradation, Light Availability and Temperature on Biomass and Species Composition

Czapiewska, Natalia; Dyderski, Marcin K.; Jagodziński, Andrzej M.

doi:10.3390/f10010022

Cited by 19 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…The cover of plant species was assessed separately for each forest strata in April and July, and then pooled, to account for all species occurring in the understory by the year. These two dates are representative for floodplain forests, as Czapiewska et al [48] revealed that April and July are close to the centroid points representing seasonal shifts in understory vegetation seasonal composition; the above-mentioned study was conducted in our study area. During the study, we tallied only the understory layer, as shrubs and trees in parts of the forests were artificially planted and thus did not account for the spontaneous process of plant community assembly.…”

Section: Vegetation Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Soil pH and Organic Matter Content Affects European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) Crown Defoliation and Its Impact on Understory Vegetation

Turczański

Rutkowski

Dyderski

et al. 2019

Forests

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European ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) dieback caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (T. Kowalski) Baral, Queloz, and Hosoya has been affecting European forests since 1992. The disease drives severe crown defoliation, branch loss, and finally tree mortality in European ash. The environmental factors affecting the disease process are still not fully recognized. We hypothesized that the level of crown defoliation in ash, as well as its impact on understory vegetation, will differ along the pH gradient in soil. We examined 27 ash stands in western Poland. We assessed the crown defoliation of 15 dominant and co-dominant trees, soil parameters (pH and soil organic matter contents; SOM), and also recorded the understory vegetation species composition. Most moderately and severely damaged trees occurred within the plots with a high SOM content (>7.5%) and neutral to slightly alkaline soil pH (>7.0) in the A horizon. We noted significantly lower crown defoliation in mesic sites with acidic soils and lower SOM contents. The results also showed the influence of ash crown defoliation on the species functional composition. Ash dieback led to the creation of gaps, and their colonization by other species frequently found in forest sites, especially forest-edge tall herbs.

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Section: Vegetation Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 87%

Soil pH and Organic Matter Content Affects European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) Crown Defoliation and Its Impact on Understory Vegetation

Turczański

Rutkowski

Dyderski

et al. 2019

Forests

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“…For example, in eastern North American maple-beech forest the spring ephemeral Erythronium americanum occurs up to the beginning of June (Tremblay and Larocque 2001), similarly, in oak-beech-hornbeam forest in the Netherlands, the spring ephemeral Allium ursinum reaches peak biomass during a two-week period of May (Werger and Laar 1985). The biomass peak in the herb layer of non-degraded floodplain forest was observed at the end of May, and spring ephemerals were largely responsible for that (Czapiewska et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal dynamics of shoot biomass of dominant clonal herb species in an oak–hornbeam forest herb layer

Rawlik

Jagodziński

2020

Plant Ecol

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Seasonal fluctuations of light availability, nutrient concentrations, and moisture affect plant population traits like density, standing biomass, and flowering. We analyzed seasonal changes of density and shoot biomass of the four most frequent herb species growing in an oak–hornbeam forest community, i.e., Anemone nemorosa, Ficaria verna, Galeobdolon luteum, and Galium odoratum. In 2010 and 2011 plant biomass was harvested from 7 to 10 randomly situated square sample plots (0.36 m2) in the homogenous oak–hornbeam forest community every week in the spring and every two weeks in the summer and autumn. The highest abundance of Anemone nemorosa reached over 1000 shoots per m2, of Ficaria verna 459.5 shoots per m2, of Galium odoratum 83.6 shoots per m2, and of Galeobdolon luteum 98.4 shoots per m2 (means for 2010 and 2011, based on all sample plots). We did not observe negative correlation between density and shoot biomass. Growth rates of vegetative shoot biomass amounted to 0.857 mg day−1 for Anemone nemorosa, 0.467 mg day−1 for Ficaria verna, 0.722 mg day−1 for Galium odoratum, and 0.448 mg day−1 for Galeobdolon luteum (means for 2010 and 2011). Spring ephemerals had much higher densities of shoots than summer-greens. Summer-greens reached higher biomass of individual shoots than spring ephemerals. Flowering shoots constituted only 4, 2, and 11% of all shoots for A. nemorosa, F. verna, and G. odoratum, respectively. More resource availability resulting in high shoot biomass did not translate to higher share of flowering shoots.

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“…We sampled light availability in August, as our previous studies showed the lowest canopy openness and highest canopy foliage development during this month [24]. Although light availability varies across the growing season [26,28,32], its minimal value has the highest significance for understory vegetation and natural regeneration. Moreover, biomass models are based on samples harvested during full foliage development.…”

Section: Data Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our study explained that invasive tree species impact on light availability in forest ecosystems is mainly mediated by the increased quantity of foliage, not by more effective LAI to BA ratio.Light interception by canopy is one of the most important drivers of understory functioning. High light availability determines understory productivity [26][27][28]. It is also one of the most important drivers of plant species composition [24,29,30], as well as soil biota [21].…”

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Similar Impacts of Alien and Native Tree Species on Understory Light Availability in a Temperate Forest

Dyderski

Jagodziński

2019

Forests

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Research Highlights: We evaluated influence of alien and native trees and shrubs on stand leaf area index to basal area ratio, indicating that both groups provide similar amounts of foliage. Background and Objectives: Foliage traits determine tree species effect on understory light availability. Direct comparisons of understory light availability due to different foliage traits of tree species are conducted less often at the stand level. We hypothesized that light availability is driven by canopy leaf area, and alien species contribution to canopy foliage will be similar to native species due to analogous patterns of biomass allocation in tree species. Materials and Methods: We studied forests dominated by alien and native tree species in Wielkopolski National Park (Western Poland). We measured light availability using the LAI-2200 canopy analyzer (Li-Cor Inc., Lincoln, NE, USA) and we calculated leaf area index (LAI) in 170 stands using published models of foliage biomass and data on specific leaf area. Results: Our study confirmed an impact of LAI on light availability in the understory layer. Analyzing the proportion of contribution to stand LAI and basal area (BA) we found that most alien species did not differ in LAI to BA ratio from native species. The exception was Prunus serotina Ehrh., with a LAI to BA ratio higher than all native and alien trees. However, the highest LAI to BA ratios we found were for the alien shrub Cotoneaster lucidus Schltdl. and native shrubs of fertile broadleaved forests. Conclusions: Our study showed that alien species contribution to shading the understory is comparable to native species, with the exception of P. serotina due to its dominance in the higher shrub canopy strata where it exhibits different patterns of biomass allocation than native trees. Our study explained that invasive tree species impact on light availability in forest ecosystems is mainly mediated by the increased quantity of foliage, not by more effective LAI to BA ratio.Light interception by canopy is one of the most important drivers of understory functioning. High light availability determines understory productivity [26][27][28]. It is also one of the most important drivers of plant species composition [24,29,30], as well as soil biota [21]. It is also crucial for regeneration of canopy species [31][32][33]. Usually minimum light availability for sapling survival is higher for pioneer tree species than mid-and late-successional tree species [25,34,35]. This value varies light availability under open sky by around 5%-10% [32,36,37].Despite numerous studies confirming light availability limitation by alien species, few studies compare their influence with functionally analogous native competitors. Most studies on invasive plants focused rather on conditions favoring their establishment than their impacts [33,38,39]. For that reason we aimed to assess how much leaf area index (LAI, m 2 of leaves m −2 stand area) determines light availability on the forest floor and whether alien, invasive trees contribute mo...

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Seasonal Dynamics of Floodplain Forest Understory–Impacts of Degradation, Light Availability and Temperature on Biomass and Species Composition

Cited by 19 publications

References 62 publications

Soil pH and Organic Matter Content Affects European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) Crown Defoliation and Its Impact on Understory Vegetation

Soil pH and Organic Matter Content Affects European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) Crown Defoliation and Its Impact on Understory Vegetation

Seasonal dynamics of shoot biomass of dominant clonal herb species in an oak–hornbeam forest herb layer

Similar Impacts of Alien and Native Tree Species on Understory Light Availability in a Temperate Forest

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